


Cogs and Gears

by windandthestars



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Breathplay, Community: kink_bingo, Gags, Gen, Guro, Kink, Non-Sexual Bondage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-08
Updated: 2012-10-08
Packaged: 2017-11-15 21:59:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windandthestars/pseuds/windandthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus' work was still experimental, pushing the bounds of known science and there were no guarantees, even so it was an honor to live this close to the machines that gave them life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cogs and Gears

**Author's Note:**

> Contains medical/surgical type stuff

It's the first sting of the scalpel, sharp metal against the soft skin of her shoulder that drives home the reality of what she's about to undertake. She's done this before, metal parts whir within her the same way her own heart beats.

Fingers pry and a trickle of blood drips down her arm, flesh pushed aside to expose a small gold shaft. Kate can't remember what it does- not exactly, the technicalities of Magnus' work are lost on her- but she knows in time the line on her shoulder will scar pearly white against her darker skin, the mechanism that sits partially exposed still carefully measuring out the properties of her blood.

Her ankles are already bound, a procedural precaution given the nature of Magnus' work, and with her shoulder hooked up- cool metal pressed against her clavicle, attached to the tiny gear shaft and tinier cogs- her arms are bound as well, her body temporarily held as if fused to the table.

She could still struggle but she makes a conscious effort not to. She had volunteered for this. Magnus' work was still experimental, pushing the bounds of known science and there were no guarantees, even so it was an honor to live this close to the machines that gave them life. The machines that kept their air clean and their homes powered. The machines that would survive longer than she would, and carry the human race on into the future well past what others had seen as its inevitable self perpetuated end.

Lying still, totally still, muscles tensed and eyes fixed on the ceiling it takes her a minute to pry open her jaw when Will appears. He's holding an odd machine, part mask, part torture device as far as Kate's concerned. It's the mechanism by which the medicines are delivered, the anesthesia to take the pain away and the stimulants to keep her awake, keep her heart beating while Magnus tests the limits of what her body can endure.

Today is by far the most invasive procedure Kate has undergone. In a few short minutes, Magnus' carefully gloved hand will press past an incision in her abdomen and slip itself into a space alongside Kate's internal organs, stretching and pressing. Kate won't be able to feel the pain, but the pressure, the added pressure of another mass, the empty space it will leave behind in its wake, Kate will be able to feel that and that terrifies her as much as it thrills her.

She could ask Will to fiddle with the drugs, whatever it is that suddenly and inexplicably takes the edge off her nerves and a heartbeat later does away with them completely. He could leave her in a haze of unknowing bliss, but she knows she doesn't really want that; she wants to remember this, the fear and the thrill of overcoming it later. It's what keeps her coming back; it’s what had made her show up on Magnus' doorstep in the first place.

She also knows the second she opens her mouth the smooth rubber bit will slide into place against her teeth. It's not meant to be a gag, but it's the most effective one Kate has had the displeasure of dealing with. It may keep her from unintentionally biting off her own tongue in a moment of panic, but she's also fond of talking, and keeping silent is a lot more impossible than keeping still.

She hated it and she hated it even more because she couldn't tell Will that. She couldn't tell him to stop playing god with that deadly contraption of his. Good drugs or not, the thing was mammoth and with her mouth half full she felt at times as if she were choking, gagging on air thicker than even the city's worst smog.

She would choke and gasp until her eyes watered, then Will would pull the mask away and she would gulp down air, fighting down the urge to cough, head aching vaguely, dizzily on the sudden presence of air. As quickly as it had appeared the air, sharp with the smell of antiseptic and fresh new metal, would disappear, replaced with hazy soup and soft billowing cotton stuffed between her ears.

Slowly the euphoria at the sharp tang of fresh air would overtake her and she would float, suspended, unfeeling, Will still hovering with his mask; Magnus marking a sharp red line down her abdomen, blood welling in jewel red ripples, but for now her shoulder stings and Kate winces, lying back to feel cool leather press against the bare skin of her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> For a single line extra at kink_bingo: breathplay, gags/silence, bondage (wrists/ankles), guro, and fisting/stretching


End file.
